


This Rabbit Can Keep A Secret

by arcadian_hiraeth



Series: Miraculous Stories [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Knows, Anxiety Attacks, Bee Chloé Bourgeois | Queen Bee, Bisexual Chloé Bourgeois, Chloé Bourgeois Knows, Dragon Kagami Tsurugi | Ryuko, Fox Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Good Chloé Bourgeois, Horse Max Kanté | Pegasus, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Knows, Mentioned Lila Rossi, Minor Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Miraculous Holder Chloé Bourgeois, Miraculous Holder Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Nonbinary Marc Anciel, Other, Rabbit Alix Kubdel | Bunnyx
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23405680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcadian_hiraeth/pseuds/arcadian_hiraeth
Summary: Alix is almost akumatized when she figures out the truth of Lila Rossi(With a little help from future-self).This story has been DISCONTINUED
Relationships: Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg
Series: Miraculous Stories [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588762
Comments: 25
Kudos: 296





	1. Chapter 1

Alix wasn’t panicking. Nope. Definitely not. And she wasn’t panicking because her watch totally didn’t chime that morning, the hologram ringing sweetly, _“Realize the many tales told. The Italian’s words are beginning to get old.”_

A pretty easy( _hypothetical!_ ) riddle to figure out- even for Alix(she was never good at puzzles). It was talking about Lila, the only Italian girl she knew who had a lot of stories. But she didn’t know why it was talking about Lila’s life like- like it was just a _story._ Like Lila was making everything up.

The only person she knew that didn’t like Lila was Marinette, but from Chloe’s Instagram posts, she’s staying over the blonde’s place. She and a bunch of other people and- is that _Max?_

Hadn’t he called them ‘insufferable, irrational idiots’ just a month or two ago?

But that isn’t what has her _(not)_ panicked.

No. It’s the fact that once that little seed of ‘Is Lila lying’ settled into her head… she could see it. How she had said the sprained ankle(which she got just before they offered to help clean another class’ party) was because she was helping at an animal shelter and the dogs ended up tripping her with how much they wanted to play with her. But just this morning, she implied it was because she was helping Clara Nightingale with a new dance routine. Which doesn’t make sense because Lila had said Clara had stolen her moves before and that they weren’t friends anymore.

And what about all those things Marinette ‘said’? About Mylene’s weight or Juleka never being able to be a model. Or how Nino’s music sucks or about Rose being annoying. None of them had ever actually _heard_ Marinette saying that- hell, she’s _never_ said anything even remotely that mean, even when Chloe was an A-class bitch.

But, Lila _can’t_ be lying, because that would mean… 

Quickly, Alix shot her hand up, “Mlle Bustier, can I go to the bathroom?”

Before she could respond(she knew it would be a _no_ because class had just started) Alix was out the door. She barely made it to the bathroom, sliding down the wall and squeezing a dove charm between white-knuckled hands. Marinette used to tell her it would help ground her, but-

She needed to breathe. Breathe in, breathe out. But she _can’t._ She _can’t breathe,_ she can’t remember how to breathe. She can’t-

 _Think of puppies. And kittens. And rainbows. And TV shows. And wasn’t her show on tonight? What if Abby cheating was a lie? What if Janice was lying to Eric? What if Lila was- No. No, stop. Don’t-Don’t think. Don’t think. Cuz thinking_ **_hurts,_ ** _and she doesn’t like hurting- doesn’t like_ **_drowning_ ** _._

 _She just wants it to_ **_stop._ ** _Stop being fooled, stop overreacting, stop Lila from ly-_

**_Just don’t think!_ **

Blank. Everything was… blank. Like being in the eye of the storm- She just has to stay there, and everything will be _fine._

She didn’t notice the little butterfly until it was already in her charm.

_“The pain of a girl unable to face the cruel reality of being lied to.”_

No. She was strong enough to-

_“Of leaving her friend all alone. Of bullying someone you cared for.”_

She did- Alix won’t lie. She _left_ Marinette for someone who told her exactly what she wanted to hear.

_“Colombe Générale, in return for Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s Miraculous, I will give you peace.”_

“No.”

_“Don’t you want peace, Colombe Générale? I can give it to you.”_

She didn’t have time for this shit. “No. Fuck you.”

She slammed her porcelain charm on the ground. And, vaguely remembering the date, trapped the butterfly in her hands. What was it older-her had whispered?

_On January 17th, 2018, bring it to Marinette._

Of course. Marinette, the one she betrayed. The one who will never forgive her as she had forgiven the others. The one who has every right to burn the world for what has been done to her. The one who-

 _Don’t think._ She’ll need to find something to hold the butterfly in- and someone to open it, since she needs two hands to hold it. And she’ll need to tell a teacher about the porcelain shards in the bathroom.

She goes to the nearest room(Mme Mendeleive’s), knocking on the door with clasped hands.

The teacher doesn’t take long to open the door, meeting her tired eyes. “I need a container for an akuma.”

Quickly, the teacher rushed to ask a student for one. Someone(Marc, if she remembers right) offers up a small purse.

“Where are you taking it?” Mme Mendeleive asks, looking warily at the purse.

Alix blinks, the word falling from her lips before she can stop it, “Ladybug.”

She knows she’s supposed to be taking it to Marinette, but… this doesn’t carry the foul taste of a lie. It feels like _truth,_ and she hates herself even more for doing all those things to _Ladybug._ All the insults, the-

_Don’t think._

“Oh, and there’s some porcelain shards in the bathroom.” Mme Mendeleive lets her go with a sigh and a mumbled note to call the office. Alix numbly makes her way to an empty classroom, typing some info on the cat page of the Miraculous App .

-

As subtly as they could, Marc texted Marinette(Max had downloaded a specialized version of the Miraculous App a bit after they and Kagami got their Miraculous).

 **ItalianAngel** **  
** alix has an akuma in a bag   
she says shes going to ladybug 

**LuckyLady** **  
** i knw   
*know   
sh jus texed th app   
*just *texted *the 

**FoxieJew** **  
**What if she knows

 **LuckyLady** **  
** id she knws im gonf to fuckiin lose it   
*if *knows *going *fucking 

**QueenBusyBee** **  
** Max, ten bucks says it’s worse than when you found out 

**Genius** **  
** I’d be an idiot to bet on something with such an obvious answer. 

**PersonalHeater** **  
** it cant b that bad   
… right? 

**Kagami** **  
** You should all be paying attention to your lessons. 

-

Marinette was lucky Mme Bustier let her go to the bathroom. A silent whisper to Adrien and a look with Chloe had her decision of going alone final. Not that anyone could follow her anyway. She was the one with the Luck Goddess, after all.

Still, she slipped out an open window, transformed, and met Alix in the empty classroom she’d mentioned.

Her eyes were dull, and she looked so _tired._

The pink-haired girl opened the small purse. Immediately, Ladybug caught and purified the akuma.

She smiled. “It was very brave of you to do this. Thank you.” She looked over her tired form, “If you need a day off to catch up on sleep, you should.”

Alix shook her head. “No… No, I’m fine.” _Lie._ “But can you answer a question for me?”

Her earring beeped, “Of course! It just needs to be quick, okay?”

“Where did you get that porcelain dove you gave me? I broke it and need a new one.”

-

 **LuckyLady** **  
** Nathaniel.   
  
**FoxieJew** **  
** She said my full name   
I feel like Im in danger 

**QueenBusyBee** **  
** No typos   
Full name   
Capitalization _and_ punctuation?   
Someones pissed 

**Genius** **  
** The chances of your assumptions being right are 86.59%, Nathaniel. 

**LuckyLady** **  
** Why’d you have to go and fucking jinx it! 

**PersonalHeater**   
nath   
u should run 

**ItalianAngel** **  
** oh no i dont want to be widowed yet   
im not even married 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I do good with the panic/anxiety attack? I don't know if I've had one so I don't have a realistic reference for how it feels, but I tried to use my experience with dealing with unwanted feelings and situations. I know people have different ways of going through an attack, but I do feel like this way might be what a lot of Parisians are doing because of Hawk Moth.
> 
> For anyone interested, Colombe Générale means Dove General. Doves are beings of peace, and since Alix was trying to stay calm, I wanted her Akuma version to bring everyone 'calm'. When, really, it was just numbness. She would have been a mind-control akuma, and each one she 'infects' would follow her blindly, for 'peace'. Honestly, if this akuma actually happened she would have been a b'tch to fight.
> 
> And there is no defining moment of 'oh shit Mari's ladybug' from Alix because she isn't consciously recognising her thoughts. she's pushed them to the subconscious, which means she subconsciously knows older-her would want her to give the akuma to ladybug, but told her to give it to marinette, instead. Marinette, who(to her knowledge) hasn't even talked to any of the heroes. So, she must know them, but doesn't she look a lot like ladybug
> 
> This is around 2018, as Marinette is born in 2003 and her birthday is july 9th
> 
> Also, you know how everyone's been saying Lila is a sociopath/compulsive liar? Well, I found something that fits better. Antisocial Personality Disorder, or ASPD for short. I won't list all the symptoms and stuff here, but it does seem like a good fit, in my mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette, after her anger had simmered down to only slight annoyance, was worried. Alix hadn’t looked… well, as ‘fine’ as she said she was. And everyone knows someone who says ‘I’m fine’ is not, in fact, anywhere near _fine._

“We need to help Alix.” She announced, finally giving up on pretending to sew.

Marc gave a shy grin, “So… we’re getting a new hero?”

Marinette rolled her eyes with a groan, “Not every friend we have will get to be a hero! But, yes. She’ll be Bunnyx.”

“But isn’t she an adult?”

“I was under the impression Bunnyx was already a hero, just retired or secretive.”

Adrien grinned, not looking away from his homework, “In the future, yeah.”

“Then how..?”

“The Rabbit Miraculous allows time travel.”

“Awesome!”

Kagami, looking up from her homework from the chaise, “But why would we need to help her?”

Chloe, next to the Japanese girl, rolls her eyes, “Kubdel is… her coping mechanism is to ignore everything. But, like with _everything_ she does, she takes it to an extreme.”

Marinette frowns, shaking her head. “Alix likes to turn off her thoughts. I gave her a porcelain dove as a grounding object a few years ago to help with that, but it doesn’t always work.”

Adrien looked up from his homework, “Wait, she’s done this before?”

His just-a-friend nodded, “It used to last a day or so, until someone would talk her out of it.”

Nathaniel leaned against the wall on Marinette’s bed, cuddling with Marc, “I did it once and it… it was painful to see Alix so… broken.”

“But wouldn’t pulling her out of it cause an akuma?”

“Not if we have an akuma-proof place.” Adrien turned to Chloe, “How’s the HQ coming?”

“... HQ?” Marc asked, looking much more confused than Kagami.

Chloe nodded, “I bought a place a while ago. The renovations were done early, thank god, and the furnishing for all floors except the first one- though it should be done a few days from now.”

“So it’s safe to bring her?”

“No. The place I hired won’t let anyone in until it’s done.”

Marinette pressed her lips thin. “Hopefully, Alix can last a few days.”

-

The first day, they all watched Alix as subtly as they could. She would walk into school( _walk_ , because her rollerblades were nowhere to be found) with dead eyes and limp posture. She wouldn’t talk the whole day, and she barely paid attention to class.

She stayed as far away from Lila as she could. Every time she would notice the Italian, her eyes cleared just for a moment to showcase the self-hate, the guilt. And then she’d suck in a sharp breath, turn away, and she’d be back to the puppet she’d become.

Adrien spent the night consoling Marinette, who cared too much not to cry and rage. All because of a stuck up little shit who wanted to change Fate’s decisions.

The second day, Chloe received a call. There was a problem- someone spilled paint on the first floor. They’d need to redo the rug, pushing the date back by two days. She spent the night flying around Paris’ tallest buildings as Queen Bee, annoyed at her inability to do something.

The third day, Alix’s emotions returned just long enough for an akuma to be sent, but she snapped back before it could reach her. Luckily, with it being lunch, Marinette disappearing for a while wasn’t too noticed. Especially with Ladybug to fill her absence.

On the fourth day, Lila decided there had been too much peace. She came in, limping and bruised. The bruise didn’t look fake, but makeup can do wonders for fooling the eyes.

“Girl, what happened?” Alya had asked, staring at the Italian with concern in her eyes.

Lila sniffled, looking away, “N- Nothing. It… It was an accident.”

No one missed her ‘subtle’ glance to Marinette.

Immediately, Alya turned to her once best friend. “What did you do?”

Before she could speak, Adrien smiled sweetly. “What are you talking about, Alya?”

“She hurt Lila!”

Max pushed up his glasses, “Lila, did Marinette attack you?”

She sniffled a bit more, eyes watery with fake tears, “Yes.”

Chloe didn’t even look up from her phone. “And when, exactly, did this ‘attack’ happen?”

“Between… midnight and one.”

Nathaniel smiled a smile that distinctly reminded the unmasked heroes of Trixx, “Then it couldn’t have been Marinette. We were all sleeping over at Chloe’s place.”

Alya scowled, “You’re lying!”

Alix twitched.

Chloe huffed, turning to showcase an Instagram photo. 

On the end of a couch, Marc and Nathaniel were both red-faced, hiding behind their hands and half-heartedly glaring at the phone, respectively. A little ways next to them, Adrien and Marinette were huddled under a blanket, both fast asleep. On the right side, you could see Max walking over with a bowl of popcorn in his hands and Markov right next to him.

On the bottom, it said, _‘8 hours ago.’_

Max pushed up his glasses, smug, “As we all have an alibi, you cannot push the blame onto any of us, either. Your claim of Marinette attacking you is 100% false.”

A brief flash of irritation passed over Lila’s face. “But- But she must have attacked me after that picture was taken!”

Juleka rolled her eyes, mumbling something. Rose, ever the sweet one, repeated, “But Marinette’s a heavy sleeper. Once she falls asleep, it’s pretty hard to wake her.”

Alya grit her teeth, “Before, then. She attacked Lila before!”

Marinette offered a sweet smile. “I fell asleep around ten, Alya. And, as said, it would have been pretty hard to wake me.”

"Please," Scoffed Kim, "Like Marinette would ever do that. She's, like, the nicest person here. She couldn't hurt a fly even if she wanted to."

“But… But she had dark hair and pigtails- and Marinette’s purse!”

“A majority of girls, 82.46% to be exact, have started to wear pigtails due to Ladybug. Additionally, they have started wearing ladybug purses, which have the same shape as Marinette’s purse. It being dark, you would have mistaken something confusing for something familiar.”

Adrien sent a cool glare to Lila and Alya, “Their hair colour might have been a different colour than Marinette’s and you wouldn’t know since it was dark, or they just have dark hair. Either way, none of that is significant proof to be Marinette.”

“But-”

“No.” Chloe glared, crossing her legs to keep her from standing, “If it’s such a big deal to you, bring it up to a police officer. _They_ are properly trained to find out who actually attacked you. Not a bunch of children who jump to conclusions.”

“We are _not-”_

“Alya.” Marinette’s voice was hard and cold, making no room for anyone to interrupt. “It was dark out, and it was late. As someone who’s tried to stay up that late for commissions, you will be tired and you will not think as clearly as you thought you did in that moment. We have already given you proof of my whereabouts, I have four people in this room, and two out of it, to back up my alibi, not including the butlers and maids who might have also seen me. What you say has no backup beside them having the same hair and the same purse as me. A purse, might I add, that I sell and have recreated roughly twenty times in the past year- which is only _twenty-one days.”_

Reluctantly, Lila let it go.

On the fifth day, Chloe got another call.

The hotel was done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Guess what? First book (in the Miraculous Stories series) to have more than two chapters! Oh I'm so so happy. Quarantine, no matter how much my family doesn't really like it, is doing _wonders_ for my writing, when I find the time to do it. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this piece(I loved writing it). However, this is not properly edited, so If you find any mistake, it'd be really good to know!
> 
> Am I a bit more enthusiastic than usual? I feel like I am. Must be the lack of social interaction.


	3. Not a Chapter

I'm sorry to all of those who were looking forward to an update, but there won't be one. At least, not for a while. I really am sorry to leave you with an unfinished story, but I don't need to explain my reasons to you, personal or not. I hope you can still enjoy other creator's ML content, because you won't be getting much from me. I hope you all have a nice day, and I apologise if I sound exceedingly rude or cold.


End file.
